Portsmouth Port Solent

The dining room and bar area very cold did not appear to have any heating. Room 135 never did get any hot water as at the end of the corridor. Insufficient staff but those in attendance worked very hard.

We arrived at 14.20. The room was ready but we weren't allowed to check in until 15.00 or pay £10 for the extra 30 minutes. I raised this with the Manager whose response was 'It's company policy'. I use Premier Inn regularly for work in a number of locations, never had that said to me before. Told him that. Same response from the Manager 'Well they are all breaking company policy'. What they are actually doing is 'managing' and keeping their customers happy. Not just wearing a badge that says 'Manager' and upsetting regular customers for the sake of 30 minutes. Petty and shabby. That's me finished with Premier Inn just on that basis. We ate in the restaurant that evening. They had run out of 'Beer Battered fish'. Strangely later on it came back on the menu after a staff member popped on to Tesco frozen aisle to get some. Then literally just warmed up. Cold mushy peas. Literally for that hour the ratio of staff to tables was 1:1 and it was still a disorganised shambles. Breakfast the next morning. A substantial number of customers. 2 staff who were more interested in giggling and chatting than the state of the buffet. No Alpen, no bread or croissants, fruit empty. Why did I need to tell them to refill things??? Don't they notice? Another fabulous Manager response 'We've run out of Alpen'. That was his entire defence. Although strangely when I walked back round to the buffet a large box of Alpen had appeared. I should say something good. I booked a Premier Plus room which was quite pleasant. Shame that didn't have the 'Slightly early check in' included for the extra I paid.

Negatives - heating was not working properly in the room and this has happened before. The breakfast is pretty basic and there seems to be a lack of staff. Positives the staff were really helpful and friendly. Big shout to the staff member in the restaurant who seemed to be working on her own, wish I had got her name and to Sam and Ellie (I think that was her name) for the room change, the smile and the understanding. I was not in a good place as I was visiting my parents who were not well and live up the road. They were empathetic and helpful and Sam made sure I was comfortable and happy and had a good night sleep.